Earth Island News

Africans Talk about Sustainability

In
2001, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rewarded
the East African country of Uganda with a debt-relief package of $90
million - a two-thirds reduction of the country's annual debt
repayment. Uganda was granted this concession in recognition of
President Yoweri Museveni's success in returning the country to
economic and political stability after former president Idi Amin's
reign of terror. Between 1971 and 1979, approximately 30,000 people
died at the hands of Amin's regime, while 70,000 Asians were forcibly
expelled. Uganda today has a strong decentralized local government
system and entertains a free press with critical and dissenting voices.
The country is now broadly free of internal insurrection, except in the
north near Gulu and on the western borders with Congo and Rwanda.

Despite much progress, Uganda was named the world's third most
corrupt country (after Nigeria and Bangladesh) in Transparency
International's 2001 Corruption Perception Index. Museveni and his
revolutionary movement, in power for 15 years, still rule the country
and political parties are banned.

As Africa has learned, political stability and security are
crucial to sustainable development. Without law and order, planning for
wise land use and sustainable use of resources is generally last on the
agenda. During the Amin years, much of Uganda's once-prolific wildlife
was shot by soldiers for meat, ivory and skins.

City Talk City Talk, a new Earth Island project, begins work in Uganda during
this calm period of institution building. City Talk has been
established to organize discussions on sustainable development issues
through meetings, print and broadcast media, and most importantly, the
Internet because it offers a relatively cheap way to connect people
across vast distances and time zones. City Talk will invest
considerable effort to help people get Internet access through existing
connections, while ensuring that they receive adequate technical
training and have the skills to express themselves successfully to
foreigners.

Our debates are both local, within a city, and international,
introducing outside voices to question what has been taken for granted
and consider the impacts on the rest of the world (of greatest
relevance to the US). City Talk gets the community talking about how
people are living, what they truly want from life, and how they can
make that happen without disastrous, unforeseen side-effects.

City Talk will operate in Uganda through a local NGO and a
separate, affiliated organization, City Talk (Uganda). City Talk
(Uganda), based in Entebbe, will be run by one paid staff member, Dan
Fred Lutaya (assistant town clerk for Entebbe Municipal Council), who
will be assisted by a multi-stakeholder advisory committee. Meanwhile,
City Talk will match Entebbe with a sister city in the US, where it
will organize a similar local program of discussions, joint Internet
debates, and foster communication skills training.

Entebbe Uganda City Talk selected Entebbe, situated on the equator on the
northern shores of Lake Victoria, as the project's pilot city because
it is relatively small (population approximately 90,000), with an
educated populace and good Internet connections. Formerly the
administrative capital when Uganda was a British protectorate
(1892-1962), Entebbe lies 25 miles south of the present-day capital,
Kampala, and is the site of the international airport.

Entebbe plans to become a major tourist center. The question is
whether the city's highly-prized rural character, with its tall trees,
tropical flower gardens, diverse assortment of migratory birds,
lakeside beaches, fresh air and clean water - the very qualities that
attract outsiders - can withstand the onslaught of this development.

During a three-week visit in October, 2001, City Talk was warmly
welcomed at several formal meetings and at a dinner by senior members
of Entebbe Municipal Council, hosted by Mayor Stephen Kabuye. Uganda's
Minister of Information, Basoga Nsadhu, assured us: "This is a welcome
program. I'd like to ensure that you have all [national] government
cooperation."

Transparency International chair and the editor of the independent national newspaper, The Monitor, Wafula Ogutu, gave City Talk his blessing, as did the editor of the government-run daily, The New Vision.
Representatives from the Panos Institute, a sustainable-development
NGO, the sociology department at Makerere University and Ugandan
television director, Proscovia Njuki, also offered support.

Population Pressure: The
average Ugandan woman bears more than seven children. With Entebbe's
population growing at an annual rate of 6 percent, this places a strain
on resources, such as fish and forests (as well as on the women). The
swelling rural population is driving a stream of migrants toward
cities, increasing demand for services such as clean water supply,
garbage collection and sewage disposal, and exacerbating urban problems
including water pollution and poverty.

Tribalism and Religious Sectarianism: Uganda is a
hodge-podge of ethnic groups. Without visible representation of
different tribes within government and civil society, resentment leads
to national instability.

City
Talk respects Ugandans' desires to enjoy the fruits of development such
as easier, longer lives with enriching opportunities for
self-fulfillment. It recognizes the crucial role of private investment
and free enterprise, but wants to promote the controls and safeguards
that come from a democratic government backed by all sectors of
society, a strong and respected legal system and, above all, a
well-informed and actively participating civic society.